Arto Grasten, Anthony Watt, Timo Jaakkola, Jarmo Liukkonen
Department of Sport Sciences, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland.
School of Education, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.
DOI: 10.4236/ape.2012.23023   PDF    HTML     4,076 Downloads   8,271 Views   Citations

Abstract

Background: Previous studies based on self-reports show that a majority of children and adolescents in Western countries fail to achieve the recommendation of 60 minutes moderate to vigorous physical activity (PA) on a daily basis. The specific aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between directly measured and self-reported PA in a cross-sectional sample of Finnish secondary school students. Moreover, how large proportion of adolescents accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous PA on a daily basis using self-reports and direct measure scores. Methods: Participants were recruited from a secondary school located in Northeast Finland. The sample comprised 96 students (58 girls, 38 boys) aged between 12- to 16-years (M = 15.03, SD = .94). Students’ directly measured PA was collected using accelerometers over a seven-day period. The self-reported PA data was gathered during the school’s allotted 90-minute lessons. Results: Results indicated that girls and boys were similarly physically active, based PA measured using both accelerometers and questionnaires. Grade 7 students were physically more active than Grade 9 students when PA was assessed using self-reports but no significant difference was found when direct measure scores were used. Self-reported PA emerged as the significant positive predictor for students’ directly measured PA within Grade 8 (p < .001), and Grade 9 students (p < .01). The results highlighted that only 10% of adolescents met the recommendation of 60 minutes moderate to vigorous PA daily, when PA was measured using self-reports. On the contrary, a portion of 85% of students met the recommendation, when direct measure scores were used. Conclusion: Because the current and previous findings indicated substantial differences in the assessments results for similarly aged samples, continuing studies using directly assessed techniques are required to gain detailed information concerning the PA behavior of Finnish children and adolescents.

Keywords

Physical Activity; Accelerometers; Self-Reports; Secondary School

Share and Cite:

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Allison, K., Adlaf, E., Dwyer, J., Lysy, D., & Irving, H. (2007). The decline in physical activity among adolescent students. A cross-national comparison. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 98, 97-100.
[2]	Arvidsson, D., Slinde, F., & Hulthen, L. (2005). Physical activity questionnaire for adolescents validated against doubly labelled water. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 59, 376-383. doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602084
[3]	Bates, H. (2006). Daily physical activity for children and youth: A review and synthesis of the literature. Alberta: Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute.
[4]	Bergh, H., Grydeland, M., Bjelland, M., Lien, N., Andersen, L., Klepp, K., Anderssen, S., & Ommundsen, Y. (2011). Personal and social-environmental correlates of objectively measured physical activity in Norwegian pre-adolescent children. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 21, 315-324. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0838.2011.01295.x
[5]	Biddle, S., Gorely, T., & Stensel, D. (2004). Health-enhancing physical activity and sedentary behavior in children and adolescents. Journal of Sport Sciences, 22, 679-701. doi:10.1080/02640410410001712412
[6]	Brener, N., Billy, J., & Grady, W. (2003). Assessment of factors affecting the validity of self-reported health-risk behavior among adolescents: Evidence from the scientific literature. Journal of Adolescent Health, 33, 436-457. doi:10.1016/S1054-139X(03)00052-1
[7]	Brodersen, N., Steptoe, A., Boniface, D., & Wardle, J. (2007). Trends in physical activity and sedentary behaviour in adolescence: Ethnic and socioeconomic differences. British Journal of Sports and Medicine, 41, 140-144. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2006.031138
[8]	Corbin, C., Pangrazi, R., & Le-Masurier, G. (2004). Physical activity for children: Current patterns and guidelines. The President’s Council of Physical Fitness and Sports Research Digest, 52, 1-8.
[9]	Corder, K., Ekelund, U., Steele, R, Wareham, N., & Brage, S. (2008). Assessment of physical activity in youth. Journal of Applied Physiology, 105, 977-987. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00094.2008
[10]	Currie, C., Samdal, O., Boyce, W., & Smith, B. (2002). Health behavior in school-aged children: A WHO cross-national study. Research Protocol for the 2001-2002 Survey. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh.
[11]	Dale, D., Welk, G., & Mattews, C. (2002). Methods for assessing physical activity and challenges for research. In G. Welk (Ed.), Physical activity assessments for health-related research (pp. 19-34). Champaign: Human Kinetics.
[12]	de Vries, S., Bakker, I., Hopman-Rock, M., Hirasing, R., & van Mechelen, W. (2006). Clinimetric review of motion sensors in children and adolescents. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 59, 670-680. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2005.11.020
[13]	Duncan, M., Al-Nakeeb, Y., Nevill, A. & Jones, M. (2004). Body image and physical activity in British secondary school children. European Physical Education Review, 10, 243-260. doi:10.1177/1356336X04047125
[14]	Eston, R., Rowlands, A., & Ingledew, D. (1998). Validity of heart rate, pedometry, and accelerometry for predicting the energy cost of children’s activities. Journal of Applied Physiology, 84, 362-371.
[15]	Finnish Board of Education (2011). Follow-up evaluation of physical education learning outcomes. Helsinki: Follow-Up Reports of Education.
[16]	Gordon-Larsen, P., Nelson, M., & Popkin, P. (2004). Longitudinal physical activity and sedentary behavior trends adolescence to adulthood. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 27, 277-283. doi:10.1016/S0749-3797(04)00183-7
[17]	Harrell, J., McMurray, R., Baggett, C., Pennell, M., Pearce, P., & Bangdiva S. (2005). Energy costs of physical activities in children and adolescents. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 37, 329- 336. doi:10.1249/01.MSS.0000153115.33762.3F
[18]	Keating, D. (2004). Cognitive and brain development. In R. Lerner, & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 45-84). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
[19]	Marshall, S., & Welk, G. (2008). Definitions and measurement. In A. Smith, & S. Biddle (Eds.), Youth physical activity and sedentary behavior (pp. 3-29). Champaign: Human Kinetics.
[20]	McKenzie, T. (2002). The use of direct observation to assess physical activity. In G. Welk (Ed.), Physical activity assessments for health- related research (pp.179-195). Champaign: Human Kinetics.
[21]	Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (2007). Adolescents health and lifestyle survey. In M. Fogelholm, O. Paronen, & M. Miettinen (Eds.), Physical activity—A possibility for welfare policy: The state and development of health-enhancing physical activity in Finland. Helsinki: Reports of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
[22]	Moore, J., Maloney, H., & Yin, Z. (2007). Differential relationship between subjectively and objectively measured physical activity and psychosocial correlates of physical activity in rural youth. Proceedings of the 135th APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition, Washington DC, 3-7 November 2007.
[23]	National Institute for Health and Welfare (2010). School Health Promotion Study 2010. URL. http://info.stakes.fi/kouluterveyskysely/FI/tulokset/index.htm
[24]	Prochaska, J., Sallis, J., & Long, B. (2001). A physical activity screening measure for the use with adolescents in primary care. Archieves of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 155, 554-559.
[25]	Riddoch, C., Andersen, L., Wedderkopp, N., Harro, M., Klasson-Heggeb?, L., Sardinha, L., Cooper, A., & Ekelund, U. (2004). Physical activity levels and patterns of 9- and 15-yr-old European children. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, 36, 86-92. doi:10.1249/01.MSS.0000106174.43932.92
[26]	Rodriguez, G., Beghin, L., Michaud, L., Moreno, L., Turck, D., & Gottrand, F. (2002). Comparison of the TriTrac-R3D accelerometer and a self-report activity diary with heart rate monitoring for the assessment of energy expenditure in children. British Journal of Nutrition, 87, 623-631. doi:10.1079/BJN2002571
[27]	Rowlands, A. (2007). Accelerometer assessment of physical activity in children: An update. Pediatric Exercise Science, 19, 252-266.
[28]	Sallis, J., Cervero, R., Ascher, W., Henderson, K., Kraft, M., & Kerr, J. (2006). An ecological approach to creating active living communities. Annual Review of Public Health, 27, 297-322. doi:10.1146/annurev.publhealth.27.021405.102100
[29]	Sherar, L., Esliger, D., Baxter-Jones, A., & Trembley, M. (2007). Age and gender differences in youth physical activity: Does physical maturity matter? Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, 39, 830- 835. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e3180335c3c
[30]	Shephard, R. (2003). Limits to the measurement of habitual physical activity by questionnaires. British Journal of Sport Medicine, 37, 197-206. doi:10.1136/bjsm.37.3.197
[31]	Shiely, F., & MacDonncha, C. (2009). Meeting the international adolescent physical activity guidelines: a comparison of objectively measured and self-reported physical activity levels. Irish Medical Journal, 102, 15-19.
[32]	Sirard, J., & Pate, R. (2001) Physical activity assessment in children and adolescents. Sports Medicine, 31, 439-454. doi:10.2165/00007256-200131060-00004
[33]	Slootmaker, S., Schuit, A., Chinapaw, M., Seidell, J., & Mechelen, W. (2012). Disagreement in physical activity assessed by accelerometer and self-report in subgroups of age, gender, education and weight status. URL. http://www.ijbnpa.org
[34]	Tabachnick, B., & Fidell, L. (2007). Using multivariate statistics. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
[35]	Thompson, A., Baxter-Jones, A., Mirwald, R., & Bailey, D. (2003). Comparison of physical activity in male and female children: Does maturation matter? Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, 35, 1648-1690. doi:10.1249/01.MSS.0000089244.44914.1F
[36]	Troiano, R. (2009). Can there be a single best measure of reported physical activity? The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 89, 736-737. doi:10.3945/ajcn.2008.27461
[37]	Troiano, R., Berrigan, D., Dodd, K., Masse, L., Tilert, T., & McDowell, M. (2008). Physical activity in the United States measured by accelerometer. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 40, 181-188.
[38]	Trost, S. (2000). Objective measurement of physical activity in youth: Current issues, future directions. Exercise and Sport Science Reviews, 29, 32-36. doi:10.1097/00003677-200101000-00007
[39]	Trost, S., McIver, K., & Pate, R. (2005). Conducting accelerometer- based activity assessments in field-based research. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 37, 531-543. doi:10.1249/01.mss.0000185657.86065.98
[40]	Trost, S., Pate, R., Freedson, P., Sallis, J., & Taylor, W. (2000). Using objective physical activity measures with youth: How many days of monitoring are needed? Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 32, 426-431. doi:10.1097/00005768-200002000-00025
[41]	Trost, S., Pate, R., Sallis, J., Freedson, P., Taylor, W., Dowda, M., & Sirard, J. (2002). Age and gender differences in objectively measured physical activity in youth. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 34, 350-355. doi:10.1097/00005768-200202000-00025
[42]	Tudor-Locke, C., Williams, J., Reis, J., & Pluto, D. (2002). Utility of pedometers for assessing physical activity. Convergent validity. Sports Medicine, 32, 795-808. doi:10.2165/00007256-200232120-00004
[43]	Virtanen, P. (2011). Measurement of children’s physical activity. Development of Polar Active activity monitor. Proceedings from the International Congress on Enhancement of Physical Activity of Children and Youth, Vuokatti, 7-9 April 2011.
[44]	Welk, G., Wickel, E., Peterson, M., Heitzler, C., Fulton, J., & Potter, L. (2007). Reliability and validity of questions on the youth media campaign longitudinal survey. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 39, 612-621. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e3180305c59
[45]	World Health Organization (2004). Health behaviour in school-aged children: HBSC International report from the 2001/2002 survey. Geneva: World Health Organization.
[46]	World Health Organization (2008). Inequalities in young people’s health. HBSC International report from the 2005/2006 survey. Geneva: World Health Organization.
[47]	World Health Organization (2012). Recommended levels of physical activity for children aged 5-17 years. URL. http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/ factsheet_young_people/en
[48]	Yang, K., & Miller, G. (2008). Handbook of research methods in public administration. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis Group.
[49]	Yli-Piipari, S. (2011). The development of students’ physical education motivation and physical activity—A 3.5-year longitudinal study across Grades 6 to 9. Ph.D. Thesis, Jyvaskyla: University of Jyvaskyla.